An Italian start-up gears up to promote Nepali craftsmanship

Kathmandu, January 23

An Italian start-up company —The Packing Man — is gearing up to promote traditional Nepali fabrics in the European and American markets.

In this regard, Ivanna Jamin, co-founder of The Packing Man, and Taylor Carlin, chief creative officer of the company, are currently in Nepal studying the entire production system of different fabrics, including allo and dhaka.

Moved by the traditional craftsmanship in Nepal, the firm has recorded the entire process of fabric production in the country and collected samples of various fabrics like allo, allo mixed with cotton, allo mixed with wool, dhaka mixed with cotton, dhaka mixed with wool, among others, which the company plans to promote as well as outsource in the international market.

For the last two weeks, the duo visited key fabric production areas in western Nepal like Pokhara, Kushma, Parbat, among others, in coordination with Micro-Enterprise Development Programme (MEDEP).

“Our main objective is to preserve traditional craftsmanship (fabric, textile, etcetera), where we collect stories of people engaged in such craftsmanship and deliver it to urban markets and consumers,” Jamin said, adding that she sees a huge potential for Nepali fabrics and textiles industry, and believes the interesting stories of micro-entrepreneurs involved in the business need to be promoted.

“We want to promote textile and fabric products of micro entrepreneurs in the international market as they are beautiful, qualitative and consumable,” said Jamin.

She said the firm wants to focus on traditionality of Nepali fabrics and disseminate factual information to help Nepali micro-entrepreneurs demonstrate their culture and creativity. This, she hopes, will give the much-needed exposure for Nepali craftsmanship in the world market.

Similarly, Carlin said that the firm plans to make Nepali allo fabrics into winter coats, women’s suits, formal shirts and try different designs and handwork in Italy and other markets using Nepali allo fabrics and textiles. “We focus on slow fashion and work on sourcing fabrics ethically and sustainably,” she said.

The company has collected traditionality of fabrics, textiles and other craftsmanship from Indonesia and Nepal and is preparing to promote them. Similarly, the firm also plans to promote traditional craftsmanship of South Africa and Bhutan. In doing so, it aims to create a linkage between potential buyers and micro-entrepreneurs across countries.

The company also aims to empower women from various countries and has two other women partners — Henriette Boe Kettilson (Norway) and Carl Johann De Nassau (Luxembourg).